Tag: ABM

Sometime around 1890, in Leipzig Germany, Dr August Gude formulated an iron-manganese preparation that could be used for the treatment of anemia. Unlike similar preparations developed previously, it was easily digestible, palatable and minimized side effects. According to an article in the August 1902 edition of the “Southern Practitioner:”

After laborious attempts, Dr. Gude, chemist, succeeded in producing such an iron-manganese preparation, which is easily absorbed by the entire intestinal tract, evokes no concomitant effects, and, as illustrated in the following histories of cases, has proved an excellent remedy for the formation of blood. The preparation referred to is Pepto-Mangan (Gude). It contains iron and manganese in an organic combination with peptone, and is a clear fluid, resembling dark red wine, of an agreeable, non-metallic, non-astringent taste.

The advantage of this preparation is that it exerts a stimulating effect upon the blood forming organs, these being excited to greater functional activity, and that the favorable effect manifests itself even within a short time by an increased oxygenation of the blood. At the same time…causes no digestive disturbances and does not injure the teeth.

Pepto-Mangan was manufactured in Liebzig by Dr. A Gude & Company and as early as 1892, Max J Breitenbach, a pharmacist by trade, served as Gude’s sole agent in both the United States and Canada.

According to his obituary in the September 11, 1920 edition of the “Drug Trade Weekly,” Breitenbach was born in Albany, Georgia in 1857; came to New York in 1874 and was an 1877 graduate of the New York College of Pharmacy. The obituary goes on to describe Breitenbach’s pharmacy career leading up to his association with Peptone-Mangan.

After working for a time in the drug store kept by Tsheppe & Schur at Sixtieth Street and Third Avenue, Mr. Breitenbach in 1878 took a position in the drug store of Albert Dung at Canal Street and the Bowery. Three years later he was made manager of the store and two years after that, or in 1883, he became the owner. This prospered so that he opened another drug store in Madison Avenue and met with such success in this that he decided to enter the proprietary business and in 1892 he opened an office at 53 Warren Street, which he maintained until his death.

The office on Warren Street was opened primarily, if not exclusively, to facilitate the distribution of Pepto-Mangan in the United States. Breitenbach was first listed at that location in the 1894 NYC Directory (I don’t have access to 1893) and by 1896 the firm of M. J. Britenbach Co. was also listed at the same location. Around this time Breitenbach was also getting out of the drug store business. The Bowery store was no longer listed in 1894 and the Madison Avenue store, although still called Breitenbach Pharmacy, was listed with a new owner in the 1902 Copartnership and Corporation Directory.

M.J. Breitenbach Co. remained on Warren Street well past Breitenbach’s death in 1920.

This advertisement from the mid to late 1890’s makes it clear that originally Gude’s Peptone-Mangan was imported from Leipzig, Germany.

Another, from the same decade listed Liebzig as the laboratory location.

As far as I can tell, this all changed around 1916 when Breitenbach purchased the entire company, including the Leipzig operation and established a laboratory in New York City. According to an item in the June 1916 edition of “American Medicine,” the company opened their new facility right around that time.

NO SHORTAGE OF PEPTO-MANGAN (GUDE)

It affords us pleasure to call special attention to the advertisement of Pepto-Mangan in this issue.

It will be noted that plentiful supplies of this standard hematinic are again available, after a brief shortage of stock, due to unexpected delays in the fitting up a new and thoroughly modern laboratory for its manufacture in New York City.

Pepto-Mangan (Gude) is now and will continue to be owned, controlled and manufactured in the United States, and will be supplied, exactly the same as heretofore, in unlimited quantities and at the usual price.

Interestingly, they blame their shortage of Pepto-Mangan on construction delays and not on the fact that their laboratory was located in Germany during World War I. In fact, I have to believe that the catalyst for this move to America had a lot to do with World War I; a time when it couldn’t have been good business to sell a German made product in America. Another story, this one in the October 1918 edition of the “Pharmaceutical Record” spoke of the company’s operation during the war as well as their public relations spin at the time.

After the Germans declared war on the rest of the world, M.J. Breitenbach, who owned the American rights for Gude’s Pepto-Mangan, purchased the entire business in Leibzig, Germany. He installed his own manager there and manufactured there the product intended for use in Germany, its allies, and neutral European countries. Mr. Breitenbach supplies the American market from his laboratory in New York City, which furnishes all the product used in the United States and in the balance of North America and South America and also for the countries of the Allies. The product therefore is entirely American, even that which is made and sold in Germany being American. Of course Mr. Breitenbach has not heard anything about what has happened to his property in Leipzig since America entered the war. Presumably it has been taken over by the alien property custodian and is therefore a complete loss to him. His American laboratory, however, has been going on most successfully, and under the influence of the large sum which he is spending in popular advertising there has been a very rapid growth in the consumption of the product.

It was in the late teens that the company’s approach to advertising also changed, certainly as a result of the sale to Breitenbach. Prior to the sale, the company only advertised to the medical practitioner in trade journals and circulars, a course of action that was stipulated in their contract with Dr. A Gude & Co. of Leipzig.

Section 9. And it is further agreed between Dr. A Gude & Co. party of the first part and the M.J. Breitenbach Co. party of the second part, that if at any time the said M.J. Breitenbach Co. by device or by advertising attempt to increase their business in Gude’s Peto-Mangan other than through the recognized channels to the Medical Profession then in such event this contract is to become null and void and all rights of the M.J. Breitenbach Co. existing under this instrument immediately become the property of said Dr. A. Gude & Co. without recourse to law.

In 1917, the company, now owned outright by Breitenbach, launched a national advertising campaign targeting general newspapers across the country. This advertisement, which appeared in the June 11, 1917 edition of the Pittsburgh Press, was part of that first wave of ads that appeared that year.

Based on this advertisement, in the October 1920 edition of the National Druggist, they were still using the trade publications as well, but now they were highlighting their advertising campaign to the druggists with no mention of the uses or benefits of the product itself.

Both liquid and tablet form are now being extensively advertised in the newspapers of this country. Stock both and be prepared for increased trade.

After Breitenbach’s death in 1920, the business continued to be listed at their Warren Street address up through at least the late 1920’s. By the early 1930’s they were listed at 160 Varick Street and later in the 1940’s and early 1950’s 304 East 23rd Street. Then sometime after the early 1950’s the brand was acquired by the Natcon Chemical Co who was operating out of Bethpage New York on Long Island.

Pepto-Mangan was still being sold in the early 1960’s. The last advertisement I can find for them was in the June 6, 1960 edition of the New York Daily News.

I’ve seen Pepto-Mangan included in advertised drug store price listings as late as 1964.

The bottle I found is machine made, hexagonal in cross-section and contained 11 ounces. It matches the bottle shown in a number of the newspaper advertisements that appeared between 1917 and 1920.

Sloan’s Liniment was originally a veterinary product developed by Andrew Sloan to topically treat sore and lame horses. Andrew’s son, Earl S. Sloan, is credited with initially putting it on the market as a remedy for human ills and developing it into a world wide product that is still available today. Earl’s likeness has been included prominently on Sloan’s Liniment labels from the very beginnings of the business.

Stories published in the August 4, 1910 edition of “Printers Ink” and the December, 1910 edition of another advertising publication called “The Poster,” both referenced an interview with Earl Sloan in which he talked about the origins of the liniment:

The formula for “Sloan’s Liniment,” said Dr. Sloan, was my fathers.

He was one of the chief surgeons and Inspectors of Stock during the Civil War, and it was in that work that he developed and made use of the liniment.

As a young man I was in the horse-trading business and made the liniment simply for my own use, but it became so popular with friends and neighbors that I resolved to go into the liniment business exclusively.

According to census records and limited city directory information, Earl’s father, Andrew, lived in Zanesfield Ohio (1840’s to 1860’s), where Earl was born in 1848 and later in St Louis Missouri (1870’s). By 1880, Earl had moved to Boston where his business took root. A publication entitled “Commercial and Financial New England Illustrated,” published by the “Boston Herald’ in 1906, described the early history of the business.

Whoever knows the ills of the horse, the noblest of beasts, knows the value of Dr. Earl S. Sloan’s Liniment and Veterinary Remedies, which, through extensive advertising and their own merit have become the leading remedies of their kind in the world since their introduction in 1885. When Dr. Sloan put Sloan’s Liniment and Veterinary Remedies on the market, he had only one small room on Portland Street. This room was used for an office, and the remedies, which were then strictly veterinary, were manufactured in a laboratory in the suburbs.

In 1888 increasing business obliged a removal to a larger building on Portland Street, which, being partly destroyed by fire in 1896, necessitated another removal to a still larger building on the corner of Canton and Albany Streets…

In 1901 he bought from Dr. Parker the right to sell and manufacture the Dr. Parker Family Remedies, a venture which from the inception has been crowned with success. Needing still larger and more commodious quarters for the conduct of the business, he bought in 1904, from the Reuben Green estate, the factory which he now occupies on the corner of Brookline and Albany Streets. The plant is more than twice the size of the old factory and has been fitted with all the most modern appliances…

The company was incorporated in 1904 with a capital of $50,000 and employs a force of sixty-four persons. The officers of the firm are Dr. Earl S. Sloan, president; Foreman Sloan, vice president; Andrew Sloan, treasurer; Mrs. Bertha P. Sloan, director, and Archie MacKiegan, clerk.

This history was well supported by the Boston City Directories. Sloan was first listed in the Boston directories in 1880 and by 1882 he was listed at his first Portland Street location, 166 – 175 Portland, where he remained until 1887. This advertisement in the March 6, 1886 edition of the Black Hills (South Dakota) Daily Times confirmed that by this time Sloan’s Liniment was not just being marketed as a veterinary remedy.

The man or woman that has rheumatism and fails to keep and use “Sloan’s Liniment” is like a drowning man refusing a rope.

He was subsequently listed at his second Portland Street location, 132 Portland, by 1889. His first Albany Street address was listed in 1897 at 597-599 Albany and later, by 1905, he was listed at 615 Albany.

The business was still located at 615 Albany in 1913 when Sloan sold the company to the Pfeiffer Chemical Company. The July 31, 1913 edition of “Printer’s Ink” reported the sale.

Dr. Earl S. Sloan has sold his entire interests in the Dr. Sloan’s Mfg. Company (Sloan’s Liniment), of Boston, a “close” corporation. The purchasers are Henry Pfeiffer and J. A. Pfeiffer, of the Pfeiffer Chemical Company of St. Louis Mo. The business will be continued in Boston for the present…

During most of Earl Sloan’s time heading the company, Sloan’s Liniment was advertised as both a farm and home remedy – “cures all pain in man or beast.” An advertisement included in several southern U.S. newspapers in 1898, makes the same point with a little more flair.

A beautiful woman and a handsome horse appeal to every southerner’s heart. Both are better for the use of, and may be kept free from illness, by Sloan’s Liniment!

In fact, Sloan credited advertising for growing “Sloans Liniment” from a local veterinary medicine to a product sold world wide by 1910. According to Earl Sloan’s interview in the December, 1910 edition of Printer’s Ink:

For years I put every dollar I could possibly take out of the business back into advertising. This meant, of course, an increasing expenditure each year until today we utilize practically all mediums, and even issue a magazine of our own, known as “Sloan’s Farm and Home Journal,” of which we send out millions of copies annually.

According to the “Printer’s Ink”story, the business depended on signs and billposting for every-day reminders and on newspapers and booklets for educational work. The words “Sloans Liniment” were always the most prominent feature in his newspaper and outdoor signage.

We believe that in that way we teach the public to unconsciously connect the two in their mind. Whenever they think of liniment they think of Sloan’s.

He went on to describe the world-wide recognition the product was receiving in 1910.

The far-reaching effect of our advertising has been surprising. I do not believe there is a spot in the world, reasonably civilized, where “Sloan’s Liniment” is not for sale. A man once wanted to make a wager with me that he knew one place where there was no “Sloan’s Liniment,” and he gave the Isle of Malta, which he said is the hottest place in the world. I looked up our records and found we had two druggists there who were selling large quantities of the liniment to the natives and to sailors on ships that use the Isle of Malta as a coaling station…

Yes, we advertise in foreign countries, as much proportionately as in the United States, using mostly newspapers, outdoor advertising and some street car advertising. Our business in England, Germany, South America and the West Indies is increasing so rapidly that it is hard for us to keep up with it.

The long history of “Sloan’s Liniment” suggests that it’s value as a liniment also contributed to it’s success but the company’s advertisements marketed it as much more than just a liniment. One 1905 advertisement called it “a complete medicine chest” and another, this one from 1920, listed 26 human conditions for which the liniment offered relief.

Advertisements in 1905 even advertised it as a preventative for yellow fever and malaria.

Avoid Yellow Fever

Use the great antiseptic preventative Sloan’s Liniment. Six drops of Sloan’s Liniment on a teaspoonful of sugar will kill yellow fever and malaria germs.

Farmers were also in luck. This 1908 advertisement announced it brought relief for various ailments associated with horses, cattle and sheep, hogs and poultry.

After Sloan sold the business it continued to operate under the name Dr. Earl S. Sloan, Inc., and they continued to list Boston as their home office on the “Sloan’s Liniment” label through 1916. The label also listed locations of Philadelphia and St. Louis in the U.S.; Toronto, Canada, and London, England.

Then in 1917, the label was revised, dropping the Boston location and adding New York.

The company address in New York was 113 West 18th Street. In the 1933 NYC Directory, Henry Pfeiffer was listed as president, and G.A. Pfeiffer as vice president and treasurer. During this period their advertisements continued to focus on the relief of joint and muscle pain but they were no longer using phrases like “cures rheumatism” and “destroys all germ life.”

According to an article in the October 15, 1945 edition of the Atlanta Constitution, around that time 14 companies, including the Pfeiffer Chemical Co., and Dr. Earl S. Sloan, Inc. were consolidated under the name Standard Laboratories, Inc. The 1948 NYC Directory listed Standard Lab’s Inc. at the 113 West 18th Street address. In fact, Standard Lab’s was listed at that address as far back as the early 1920’s so it appears that the relationship between Sloan, Pfeiffer and Standard Lab’s probably dated back much further than the consolidation.

Built in 1913, the building utilized by the business at 113 West 18th Street still remains today.

By the early 1950’s Standard Laboratories, Inc. was located in Morris Plains N.J. According to bestbusinessny.com the company has been inactive since the mid 1980’s.

Sloan’s Liniment continues to be made today by Lee Pharmaceuticals and according to drugs.com, it’s still used for temporary relief of muscle or joint pain caused by strains, sprains, arthritis, bruising or backaches.

Over 130 years later, the packaging still includes Earl Sloan’s likeness on the label.

I’ve found two “Sloan’s Liniment” bottles, both three ounces in size. One is mouth blown and Embossed “Sloan’s Liniment / Kills Pain” that was probably made prior to Earl selling the business in 1913. The other is machine made, only embossed “Sloan’s Liniment” and most likely dates to the period following the sale.

According to Sweet Clover Dairy advertisements published in later years, Charles H. Dahl founded the business in 1888. Originally located in Brooklyn, Dahl moved to 200 Nassau Rd in Roosevelt, Long Island sometime in the early 1910’s.

Dahl was not listed in the Brooklyn directories during the initial years but census records from 1900 listed his occupation as a “milk dealer” living on Linwood Street in the East New York section of the borough. A wholesale milk dealer, according to a story in the October 15, 1903 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle entitled “Jail for Selling Bad Milk,” that year he was convicted and sent to jail for selling adulterated or impure milk.

…Many of the milk dealers who have been convicted of selling adulterated or impure milk declare the wholesalers are responsible for the impurity and the Health Department inspectors have been doubly watchful in their efforts to trace the guilty one. They managed to get one wholesaler before the court yesterday and he will spend the next thirty days in the Kings County Jail. He was Charles H. Dahl of 860 Liberty Avenue, who was arrested July 8. Half a dozen milk dealers whom Dahl had been supplying for years were on hand to testify against the man. One was a man named Meyer, who has already paid $725 in fines. Meyer had been convicted three times of selling adulterated milk and once for selling without the necessary permit from the Department of Health. He had been selling Dahl’s milk…

Dahl was convicted on this charge and sent to jail for thirty days, Justice Flemming dissenting. On two other charges sentence was suspended. Assistant Corporation Counsel Wilson said:

“I think the man is a flagrant lawbreaker and he ought to go to jail.”

At least half a dozen dealers who sold Dahl’s milk have been convicted recently in the Court of Special Sessions”

Two years later, the October 4, 1905 edition of the “City Record” announced that two of Dahl’s permits had been revoked. They were:

No. 1165 – A permit to keep 3 cows at the north side of Linwood Street, 165 feet south of Stanley Avenue and

No. 2545 A permit to sell milk at the north side of Linwood Street, 165 feet south of Stanley Avenue.

Nonetheless, Dahl remained in East New York, Brooklyn through at least 1910. Census records from 1910 listed him as a “dairyman” living on Barbey Street, also in East New York.

By 1915, the New York State census listed Dahl, along with his two sons, Charles H. Dahl Jr. and Frederick Dahl, in Roosevelt. So sometime between 1910 and 1915, they moved to Long Island. His troubles with the Department of Health however, continued. The December 31, 1915 edition of the Nassau County Review reported “Milk Dealer Held for Grand Jury”

Charles Dahl who runs the dairy on Washington Avenue, Roosevelt, was arrested Thursday on complaint of Health Officer Runcie of Freeport on the charge of putting wrong labels on bottles. The case was reported to the State Board of Health and the State Sanitary supervisor, Dr. Overton of Patchogue, made an additional inspection with Dr. Runcie and after an analysis of the milk forbade Dahl using any labels marked Grade A, and gave him one week to get labels marked Grade C. Dr. Runcie states that three days later they found Dahl again carrying milk in the Village of Freeport labeled Grade A, and therefore a warrant was sworn out for his arrest. He was taken before Judge Norton, who held him under $200 bail for examination before the Grand Jury. Bail was furnished by his father.

The fact that his father bailed him out leads me to believe that it was actually Charles, Jr. who was arrested. Despite this early transgression, the company seems to have enjoyed a long and successful history in Roosevelt.

Charles Sr. was still listed as the proprietor in the 1940 census records, but it appears that during much of their time on Long Island, it was Charles Jr. who managed the business. Frederick, was also involved but apparently not at the same level of responsibility.

According to a December 1948 advertisement for the Sweet Clover Dairy:

In 1888, Sweet Clover Dairy was founded by Charles H. Dahl. For the past 30 years, his son, Charles H. Dahl Jr., has built expanded and modernized the plant, facilities and methods of operation of Sweet Clover Dairy.

This would put Dahl Jr in a lead management position sometime in the mid to late teens. It was about this time that the business began expanding by purchasing another delivery route in the Village of Freeport. According to a news item under the heading “Freeport” in the April 7, 1916 edition of the Nassau County Review:

A.S. Mott has sold his milk business to C.H. Dahl of Roosevelt, who will operate the route in connection with his present milk business.

One of Sweet Clover Dairy’s advertising slogans was “Produced in Nassau for Nassau Consumption” and by the mid 1940’s, in addition to routes in Roosevelt and Freeport, they were also operating routes in the Nassau County communities of Lynbrook, Oceanside, Rockville Centre, Baldwin, Merrick, Hempstead and Uniondale.

It was also in the mid to late 1940’s that they significantly upgraded their plant at 200 Nassau Road. The open house invitation “to view and inspect the new, modern pasteurization plant of the Sweet Clover Dairy” read in part:

Since last year the Sweet Clover Dairy has constructed the most unique milk processing plant on Long Island. Unique in respect that the complete milk processing operation, (without the touch of a human hand) is done in front of large plate glass picture widows, open at all times to the public’s eye.

The invitation included this rendering of the new plant and from appearances the business had come a long way from their Department of Health issues of the early 20th century.

Charles H. Dahl Jr died in May 1971 and his wife continued to own the business for a number of years after his death. As far as I can tell the Sweet Clover Dairy was still in operation at 200 Nassau Road as late as 1979 and possibly longer.

The dairy was apparently located at the terminus of Washington Ave in a triangular plot formed by Nassau Road, Babylon Turnpike and West Centennial Avenue. Today that area is occupied by the Roosevelt Senior Center and there is no sign of the former dairy.

The bottle is a machine made, round quart bottle. It’s embossing includes the Roosevelt L.I. location so it dates no earlier than 1910 to 1915. Based on this 1940 advertisement, the dairy was still using the round bottle type in the early 1940’s. By the late 1940’s, their advertisements exhibit a square bottle with a cream top.

This range is confirmed and further refined by the makers mark of “A.B.C.2” embossed on the bottle. It stands for the Atlantic Bottle Co., who, according to information on the Society of Historical Architecture’s web site, used that mark between 1918 and 1931.

The Whittemore name was associated with shoes and blacking going back at least as far as 1850. That year, census records listed Daniel Whittemore as a shoemaker located at North Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachussets. Ten years later, in the 1860 census records, he listed himself as a blacking maker still located in North Bridgewater.

Sometime in the late 1860’s or early 1870’s, Daniel Whittemore’s sons, John Q.A. and Charles Whittemore established the company of Whittemore Brothers & Co. That business was first listed in the 1873 Boston City Directory as manufacturers of leather dressings with an address of 100 Lincoln. The two Whittemore brothers along with a third partner, W. Augustus Paine, were named as proprietors.

The company was listed in Boston with a Lincoln Avenue address up through 1889; first at 100 Lincoln and later from 1874 to 1889 at 176 – 184 Lincoln. Then by 1891 they had moved to 237 Albany Street, also in Boston, where they remained until 1901.

In 1902 the company apparently moved across the Charles River to Cambridge Mass. The 1902 Boston directory included an advertisement that located them in Cambridgeport.

The following year, in 1903, the company was first listed in the Cambridge City Directory at 20 -26 Albany Street. (Apparently there are two Albany Streets; one in Boston and another in Cambridge.) The directory that year also included an advertisement that mentioned both an office and factory at that location.

The business remained listed on Albany Street in Cambridge up through at least 1947. Up until 1905, the business listed their address as 20 Albany Street, then 84 Albany Street and ultimately 68 -92 Albany Street changing their name to Whittemore Bros. Corp. sometime around 1915.

This December 1911 advertisement printed in the Pharmaceutical Era called Whittemore the “Oldest and Largest Manufacturers of Shoe Polishes in the World.”

It also named a wide array of brands, including “French Gloss” that were being sold under the Whittemore name and the purpose of each. They included:

“ELITE” combination for those who take pride in having their shoes look A-1. Restores color and lustre to all black shoes.

“BULLY SHINE.” A waterproof paste polish for all kinds of black shoes and rubbers. Blacks, polishes, softens and preserves. Contains oils and waxes to polish and preserve the leather, also Russet Bully Shine.

“DANDY” combination for cleaning and polishing all kinds of russet or tan boots and shoes.

“FRENCH GLOSS.” For blacking and polishing ladies’ and children’s boots and shoes. SHINES WITHOUT RUBBING.

“BOSTON.” A black liquid polish for men’s and boys’ shoes. Produces a patent leather polish without brushing. “BOSTON” is excellent for cleansing old rubbers.

“LIGHTNING DYE” instantly blacks all colored shoes.

“SUEDEDENE” for cleansing and recoloring all kinds and colors of suede and ooze leather footwear, also Black and Castor. In powder or liquid form. Powders in patent sifting top cans.

An advertisement from 1930, specific to the “French Gloss” brand stressed that it “Shines Without Brushing” and focused on children’s shoes.

It is very easily applied, dries quickly, covers those annoying scuffs which children have in footwear and can be used also on rubbers.

It’s not clear when “French Gloss,” was first introduced as a Whittemore brand. An item called “French Gloss for Ladies’ Shoes” was included in an advertisement for a store named Jewett’s in the November 30, 1869 edition of the Buffalo (N.Y.) Daily Courier so its possible that the brand dates back to the origins of the business. That being said, I can’t positively associate the brand with the Whittemore name until the 1890’s. It continued to be advertised into the 1940’s.

The bottle I found is machine made and contains 3 ounces. It’s embossed “Whittemore Boston” on one side and “French Gloss” on the other. It was most likely manufactured in the latter part of the company history, probably 1920’s or 1930’s

According to “Difford’s Guide,” the relationship between the Booth family and gin can be traced back to the establishment of their London distillery in 1740.

The Booth family, who moved to London from north-east England, were established wine merchants as early as 1569. By 1740 they had added distilling to their already established brewing and wine interests and built a distillery at 55 Cowcross Street, Clerkenwell, London…

During the 19th century Sir Felix Booth set up another distillery at Brentford and grew the business into the largest distilling company in England…

After the death of the last male Booth family member in 1826, the firm became an independent limited company. In 1937, Booth’s joined the Distiller’s Company Ltd, the interests of which would evolve into part of the conglomerate we know today as Diageo.

Booth’s gin is not currently listed as a brand on Diageo’s web site, apparently having gone out of production just recently.

It’s not clear when Booth’s gin first began appearing in the United States. The earliest U. S. newspaper reference for Booth’s gin that I could find is in a December 4, 1871 story in the Buffalo Daily Courier highlighting a local business called P.J. Hanour’s. It mentioned that “Holland” gin and Booth’s “Old Tom” gin were both available by the case at Hanour’s. Based on this story, its safe to say that Booth’s “Old Tom” gin was certainly available in the U.S. by the early 1870’s.

The December, 1887 edition of Bonfort’s Wine and Spirit Circular listed the firm of Purdy & Nicholas as the U.S. agent for Booth & Co.’s “Old Tom” gin.

An import company, the business was a partnership of John F. Purdy and George Stevenson Nicholas. According to Purdy’s obituary the company was established in 1857, so while it’s not clear when their relationship with Booth’s began, it’s possible that Booth’s U. S. presence dates back that far.

Always located at 42 Beaver Street in lower Manhattan, Purdy & Nicholas was listed in the New York City directories from 1862 up until 1888. According to an item in the September 12, 1894 issue of the New York Times, the partnership was dissolved on September 1, 1888. Subsequently, Nicholas continued to run the business, first as a sole proprietor, then, sometime around 1908, as G. S. Nicholas & Co. and finally in 1919 as G.S. Nicholas & Son. Throughout this time the business remained listed at the Beaver Street address.

By the early 1900’s, in addition to “Old Tom” their Booth & Co. imports also included Booth’s “Dry” gin. A 1902 advertisement in Life Magazine named G. S. Nicholas as the sole agent for Booth’s Dry Gin.

And the brand was included in the company listing under gin, printed in the January 1, 1903 edition of the Wine & Spirit Bulletin.

By 1908 the brand name “High and Dry” gin began to appear in the U. S. as a Booth & Co. product. That year, the June 17 edition of “Printers Ink” announced that the firm of H.B. Humphrey had been hired to place advertisements for the brand.

A year later G. S. Nicholas & Co. included the Booth’s “High and Dry” brand along with Booth’s “Old Tom”in an advertisement published in the June 22, 1909 edition of the New York Times.

In 1919, the NYC Copartnership and Corporation Directory named G. S. Nicholas & Son as the agent for Booth Distillery, Ltd., confirming that their relationship remained intact right up to the start of National Prohibition.

Booth’s High & Dry gin continued to be available in the U. S. during Prohibition albeit illegally. One story in the (Wilmington Delaware) Evening Journal described a shipment that originated in Canada.

Eighteen days ago a fourteen ton, two-masted schooner cleared from the little port of St Pierre Miquelon, a French possession near Newfoundland, with a crew of seven and assorted choice liquors valued at upwards of $200,000 aboard.

Search of the schooner was made during the night. Bottles, cases and kegs of liquor were found in two hatches covered with bags of coal.

The small schooner is (now) berthed at a Delaware River pier in Philadelphia, heavily guarded. The cargo of liquor lies in concrete vaults of the U. S. Customs Department.

A list of the illegal cargo was provided in the story and it included “28 gallons of Booth’s High and Dry gin” and “62 cases of Booth’s High and Dry gin.”

Apparently Booth’s “High & Dry,” in addition to being smuggled in, was also being counterfeited in this country. A story in the April 7, 1928 edition of the Decatur (Illinois) Herald referred to one illegal operation as the “Decatur Branch” of the Booth Distillery, complete with a still, bottles and labels.

Police Friday raided the “local branch” of a London, England, distillery: makers of Booth’s “High and Dry” Gin, and other fine imported liquors. A new 50-gallon still was confiscated.

Swooping down on the cottage in 2129 North Church Street, they found John Alexander and his wife Sadie, in charge of the premises with 80 gallons of raw alcohol ready to be converted into choice imported liquors.

Bottles, labels, corks and seals were ready. Recipes for mixing a widely assorted list of liquors were found.

Booth’s London distillery, as described by the labels for use on the “imported” dry gin, made in Decatur, was established in 1740. The British lion appears on the label as a trade mark. The label is a work of art, printed in four colors.

Another label found is intended to give the information that the liquor manufactured in Decatur’s branch of Booth’s English distillery is imported by the “Henry Hollander Co., Inc.” under a special permit. Caution is given that it has been permitted in this country for medicinal purposes only and that “sale for use for other purposes will cause heavy penalties to be inflicted.”

The still was in the basement. It gave appearance of being recently installed. Under order of Chief Ed Wills, it was wrecked.

After Prohibition ended, Booth’s “High & Dry” gin began to be produced in the U.S. by Park & Tillford Distiller’s of New York City. The “High & Dry” label from the 1930’s included the following:

product of U.S.A. distilled and bottled by Park & Tillford Distillers, Inc. at New York, N.Y., under the supervision of Booth Distillers, Ld, London.

Other 1930’s advertisements explained that reducing the price by eliminating the import tax was the reasoning behind the change.

This is the same gin when imported retails $3.50 to $4.00 per fifth bottle. But it is now being distilled by the Park and Tillford distillers in New York City by the Booth’s distillers of London, England, same formula, same gin, but eliminating import tax, thereby bringing the price down compared to ordinary gin.

This advertisement from 1935 bore this out, listing the price of a fifth at $1.45.

By the mid-1950’s, Booth’s “High & Dry” gin was being produced in Linden New Jersey by the Distillers Co., Ltd.; W. A. Taylor & Co., was named as their sole distributor in the U.S and the bottle design had completely changed but this 1959 advertisement showed that their marketing strategy had remained pretty consistent.

They still stressed their English heritage.

It is good to know that when you buy Booth’s “High & Dry” Gin in the United States you are getting gin made according to the same formula as the Booth’s “High & Dry” purveyed in Britain. It is the only gin distilled in U.S.A. under the supervision of famous Booth Distilleries, Ltd., in London, England. Give Booth’s a try.

And price was still a major factor.

I’ve found a total of three bottles from the Booth’s Distillery, all machine made. Two are square shaped “High and Dry Gin” bottles. One includes “High & Dry Gin,” the British lion trademark, “Booth’s Distillery London England” all embossed on one face. The other is simply embossed “Booth’s High and Dry Gin”

They don’t include the typical post-prohibition embossed phrase (federal law forbids the sale or reuse of this bottle). As a result these bottles were most likely manufactured after 1908 when the brand “High & Dry” began to appear in the U.S and before the end of National Prohibition.

This is further supported by the embossing: “B & CO.LD.,” found on the base of each bottle.

Originally I thought that this stood for Booth & Co., however, I now think it’s the makers mark for “Bagley & Co., Ltd.,” an English glass house, that was in business from 1898 to 1962. The company manufactured bottles from 1898 to the late 1920’s or early 1930’s after which they ceased bottle production and focused on tableware. According to the U.S. Society of Historical Architecture they were one of the first users of automated bottle machinery in England and probably had the capability of making machine-made narrow-mouthed bottles as early as 1907.

This puts the range of production between 1908 and the early 1930’s and means that the bottles could have been legally imported by G.S. Nicholas or they could have entered the country illegally during Prohibition.

The third bottle has a hexagonal cross section and is embossed “Booths Distillery Ltd. London” The embossing does not include a brand name and there’s no makers mark on the base. It likely dates from the same time period as the others and may have contained the other brand Booth’s was advertising in the United States in the decade prior to Prohibition, “Old Tom Gin.”

Peter Dawson was third generation of a family of Scottish distillers that began with his grandfather sometime in the first decade of the 1800’s. According to Whisky.Com, he established Peter Dawson Ltd., in Glasgow in 1892. A distilling and blending company, between 1893 and 1924 they were associated at various times with a number of Scottish distilleries including Convolmore, Towiemore and Balmenach.

According to the 1920 edition of “Harper’s Manual – The Standard Work of Reference for the Wine & Spirit Trade,” the business incorporated in 1911 with Peter Dawson and W. Campbell named as Managing Director and Secretary respectively. The Harper’s listing also mentioned three brands: “Dawson’s Extra Special,” “Dawson’s Old Curio,” and “Dawson’s Special.”

By 1925 they had been purchased and were operating as a subsidiary to the “Distillers Company, Ltd.” Guinness acquired the Distillers Co. in 1986, and they merged with Grand Metropolitan in 1997 to form Diageo. Today, Diageo’s web site does not list Peter Dawson as one of their scotch brands.

It appears that the Peter Dawson brands began appearing in the United States sometime in the early 1900’s. On June 16, 1903 they registered their label with the United States Patent Office (10,105) and their newspaper advertisements began appearing in 1909. The first one I could find was in the January 14, 1909 edition of the Chicago Tribune.

The Dawson taste for old scotch whisky is the cultivated taste. Peter Dawson Scotch Whisky is bottled in Scotland and has a flavor that will be a revelation to you. Kindly but firmly refuse substitutes at bars, hotels, cafes and on trains.

Like most European based whiskies, the Peter Dawson brands continued to make their way into the United States after the start of National Prohibition. An article printed in the March 10, 1925 edition of the Casper (Wyoming) Star Tribune described a confiscated shipment of Peter Dawson Scotch.

Ten quarts of Peter Dawson Scotch liquor, shipped out of New York City to F.J. Alder of Casper Wyoming, was yesterday seized by federal prohibition officers. No such man at the address has been found.

The liquor, shipped by express, was packed in a wooden shoe box which had been filled with sawdust and tin packing strips had been nailed around the box to reinforce it.

C.F. Peterson and Otto Plaga, federal agents, confiscated the shipment and sent it to headquarters of the department at Cheyenne.

Following the end of Prohibition, Julius Wile Sons & Co. was appointed as Dawson’s United States distributor. The following advertisement appeared in the December 11, 1933 edition of several U.S. newspapers.

Wile was still listed as their agent and/or distributor on advertisements as late as 1971.

Julius Wile Sons & Co. was a wine and spirits importing company that dated back to 1877, so it’s possible that they also served as Peter Dawson’s distributor prior to National Prohibition but I haven’t been able to verify (or refute) this.

The Peter Dawson Scotch bottle was a unique design that included “brambles” and “dimples” on the shoulder and near the base but leaving a smooth area in between for the label. An April 10, 1924 advertisement in the The (London England) Guardian focused on their unique bottle design.

The Whisky bottle that gives you inside information.

Old masters, bank-notes, and the labels on valuable commercial commodities are so easily imitated nowadays that extra precautions are often necessary.

In the case of Peter Dawson, it has been found imperative to adopt, in addition to the label on the bottle, a distinguishing mark which will at once defy imitation and protect both the public and the blender.

That is the reason why “brambles” and “dimples” have been grown upon the “P.D.” bottles. It is strange but true that these “brambles” and “dimples” will only grow upon bottles containing whisky that’s genuinely old and mellowed in wood.

Seek out the “P.D.” bottle that “brambles” with pride and “dimples” with pleasure. It will give you reliable inside information of a “special” nature.

As far as I can tell, the “brambled” and “dimpled” bottle design began appearing in newspaper advertisements in the early 1920’s and the design remained relatively unchanged (other than the finish) well into the 1980’s and possibly longer.

The bottle I found is a machine made quart that exhibits the Peter Dawson “brambles” and “dimples” and matches the bottle in the 1924 advertisement, including the finish. The base is embossed “Peter Dawson Ltd., Distillers.” It doesn’t include the typical post-prohibition embossed phrase: “federal law forbids sale or reuse of this bottle.” As a result, the bottle was most likely manufactured overseas in the 1920’s and smuggled into the United States during Prohibition.

According to census records Henry C. Botjer was born in Germany in 1872 (1900 records) or 1873 (1910 records) and immigrated to the United States in 1888.

It appears that he ran his own business from 1906 until 1918, when he passed away. Between 1906 and 1910 his address was listed as 353 Broadway or sometimes Broadway, corner of Second Avenue in Long Island City, Queens. An advertisement in the February 4, 1907 edition of the Brooklyn Star called him a “Wholesale Dealer in Lager Beers, Ales and Porters with a depot and office both located on Broadway, corner of Second Avenue. The advertisement went on to say that he was the sole agent for Miller’s “The Best” Milwaukee Beer and wholesale agent for imported beers.

Another advertisement, this one in the February 8, 1908 issue of “Harpers Weekly” focused on his association with “Miller”

The business incorporated in July, 1912. The incorporation notice appeared under the heading “New Queens Concern” in the July 30, 1912 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

The Henry C. Botjer Company of the Borough of Queens has been incorporated with the Secretary of State, to make and sell beverages, etc. with a capital of $10,000 and the following directors: Henry C. Botjer of Long Island City and James J. Sullivan and D. Walter Griffiths of New York City.

Around the same time, the business moved to 404 – 406 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, where it remained listed until 1918. During this period,the directory listings usually classified the business as wholesale beers.

Second Avenue in Queens was later renamed 31st Street. The intersection of 31st Street and Broadway is now technically located in Astoria and situated under the elevated subway. The buildings on each corner are all old and could date back to the business. It’s not clear exactly where the Jackson Avenue address was located.

The bottle I found is a machine made, 12 ounce, champagne style beer with a crown finish. It’s embossed “Henry C. Botjer Co. Long Island City” in small letters around the shoulder. The bottle looks exactly like the one in the 1908 advertisement (without the label) and no doubt contained a “Miller High Life.” Machine made, it most likely dates to the later years of the business.

The business of Bell & Co., along with their signature product, a remedy for indigestion called “Pa-pay-ans, Bell,” later renamed “Bell-Ans,” was the brainchild of William Lanphere Dodge. According to Dodge’s April, 1940 obituary:

He was born in New York City, the son of the late Dr. John Lanphere Dodge ( a Civil War Union Army Surgeon) and Cornelia Holt Dodge of Montreal. He became a drug clerk in Groton Conn., where he lived during his early manhood.

At some point, he relocated to New York City and together with a chemist named Robert J. Bell, developed the formula for Pa-pay-ans, Bell. Prior to 1897, Bell was listed individually in the NYC Directory as a chemist with an Eighth Avenue address. I have to believe that this is the time and place where Bell & Dodge first developed their formula.

The company was first listed as Bell & Co. in the 1898 NYC Trow Business Directory under the heading “Manufacturing Chemists” with an address of 110 John Street. The business was not listed in the same directory in 1897.

They remained at 110 John Street until 1900, when they moved to 68 Murray Street. The Copartnership and Corporation Directory in 1900 listed John L. Dodge as president and R. J. Bell as secretary.

During this time, Dodge was building a new manufacturing facility north of New York City in Orangeburg, New York. It’s not clear when exactly the plant was up and running but the business remained listed in New York City at 68 Murray Street up through 1908. The 1909 listing in the Copartnership and Corporation Directory stated that Bell & Co., had “removed to Orangeburg N.Y.”

According to 1940 legal documents, up through 1909, Bell & Co., Inc manufactured and sold Bell-Ans as well as a number of other products. At this point, Dodge formed a second corporation called Hollings-Smith. The incorporation notice was printed in the June 3, 1909 edition of the Trenton Times.

Both Bell & Co and Hollings-Smith were New Jersey corporations with their main offices, plant and assets all located in Orangeburg. The stock of both corporations was owned and controlled by Dodge. Bell was no longer mentioned.

In 1910, Dodge retired from active participation in both companies, turning the day to day management of them over to David Clark who served as director, treasurer and general manager. Dodge retained 75 % ownership with Clark the other 25%. In 1926, Dodge’s son, Joseph, become active in the management of the company and in 1933 Clark was forced out of the company as a result of conflicts with Joseph who, at the time, was an executive vice president.

As far as I can tell, up through the mid 1970’s both companies remained under control of the Dodge family and continued to manufacture pharmaceuticals.

Bell & Co.’s signature product, Pa-pay-ans, Bell, was touted to aid digestion and much more. Packaging in and around 1909 included the following information:

For the treatment of dyspepsia, flatulence, nausea, vertigo, hyperacidity, palpitation and the symptoms of indigestion and the vomiting of pregnancy. Peritonitis, cholera morbus, alcoholism and seasickness. Digests every variety of food, removes every symptom of indigestion, restores the entire digestive tract to a normal condition.

The dosage is recommended as follows: from one to three tablets before meals, or two hours after eating. In severe cases three tablets dissolved in hot water and repeated as necessary.

They claimed that papaya was the key ingredient to the success of their product, describing it as:

the digestive principle obtained by our own exclusive process from the fruit of Carica papaya, combined with willow charcoal, chemically pure sodium bicarbonate and aromatics.

However, in 1909, the August 11th Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the Council of Pharmacy and Chemistry had done a chemical analysis of the product, finding “charcoal, sodium bicarbonate, ginger, saccharine and oil of gaultheria (wintergreen) , but no papaya.

Ultimately, in 1914, Bell & Co., changed the name of the product to Bell-Ans. This caught the attention of the American Medical Association who published this opinion regarding the name change in their May 9, 1914 Journal.

Within the past few weeks physicians have been notified that the name of ‘Pa-pay-ans, Bell” has been changed to “Bell-ans.” The reason for the change, according to the company, is that the new name is “shorter, pleasanter sounding and better.” As the most valuable asset of a “patent medicine” company is the name of its product, it is hardly likely that the name of Pa-pay-ans, Bell would have been changed for purely euphonious reasons. As previous analyses indicate that there is not, and probably never has been, any appreciable amount of papain in the product, and as the older name, “Pa-pay-ans,” carries with it the impression that papain is the essential drug, a more rational reason for the change of name should be sought. There is little doubt that this might be found in the federal Food and Drugs Act, especially that part which refers to misbranding. Bell & Co. are changing a misleading name into a meaningless one.

The American Medical Association also took exception to the wide ranging and extravagant claims made in connection with the product. The May 9, 1914 AMA Journal stated:

Reading some of the literature on “Pa-pay-ans, Bell,” might, if it were believed, lead one to think that with a bottle of this preparation on hand the balance of the pysicians’ therapeutic armamentarium could be thrown into the discard.

In 1915 the AMA summed it up this way:

Bell-Ans (Pa-pay-ans, Bell) possess the virtues – and there are few – and the limitations – and these are many – inherent to a mixture of baking soda, ginger and charcoal. Any druggist could put up just as good a remedy, and any physician could write a prescription for a better one in those cases in which he might think it indicated. The whole secret of the commercial success of Bell-And lies in the mystery of it’s composition and the false and misleading claims that have been made for it. The same tablets put out under a non-proprietary name, as an open formula and with claims that were reasonable and true, would have practically no sale.

Originally Bell & Co. marketed and advertised only to the medical profession, usually in the form of free samples and testimonials printed on advertising post cards. The testimonials were allegedly written by prominent physicians but the names of those physicians were never provided.

Advertisements to the general public began appearing in newspapers around 1915. This advertisement from the October 1, 1915 edition of the Washington Post was typical of their earlier newspaper advertisements.

Another advertisement, this one from 1918, calls for six tablets – double the dosage they recommended in 1909.

Newspaper advertising continued into the 1960’s and 1970’s. In the 1960’s the product was also being marketed as a cure for bad breath. According to the “Palisades Newsletter,” the Bell-ans patent was sold to Grandpa Brands sometime in the 1970’s. The last newspaper advertisement I can find for Bell-ans was in 1975 for Thrift Drug Store in Pittsburg Pa.

Despite the negative attitude of the medical profession, Bell-ans was highly successful. The complex in Orangeburg New York was built on 1500 acres and included the main factory building as well as several smaller buildings used to house employees. A huge harness racing enthusiast, Dodge also built stables and a racetrack on the property.

Located at the intersection of Route 303 and Kings Highway, the buildings still exist today and remain owned by the Dodge family. They have been given new life as the Bell-Ans Center of Creative Arts.

The bottle I found is a machine-made small square medicine. One edge side is embossed “Bell & Co., Inc. Orangeburg, New York, U.S.A.” The other is embossed “Bell-Ans,” which dates it no earlier than 1914 when they changed their name.

It appears that the Pinus Medicine Company was started in 1903 or 1904 by Henry F. Edsall in San Francisco, California. The company was first listed in the 1904 San Francisco Directory with an address of 734-736 Valencia. Fruitola advertisements begin appearing in 1904 as well. The earliest one I could find was in the January 12, 1904 issue of the Oakland Tribune. Marketed as a system cleaner it claimed to remove gall stones and cure all stomach troubles.

It was advertised with another product called Pinus which I have to assume was the inspiration for the company name.

Sometime in 1906 or 1907, Edsall moved the business to 622 West 9th Street in Los Angeles and on January 5, 1910, the Los Angeles Times reported that the business had incorporated with capital of $100,000. H.F. Edsall, Elizabeth Edsall and John P. Newell were listed as directors.

H.F. Edsall remained listed as president until 1912. Then, abruptly, in the 1913 directory Henry T Edsall was listed as president and Henry F. Edsall was no longer mentioned. It’s not clear what relation Henry T. was to Henry F., why the change was made or what became of Henry F. (or maybe it was just a typo in the directory?).

Anyway, that same year the company was sold. On November 5, 1913 the Los Angeles Times reported:

It was announced yesterday by Henry T. Edsall of the Pinus Medicine Company of this city that he had disposed of a majority of his stock in the corporation to Allen F. Moore of Monticello, Illinois. Moore is the president of the Dr. Caldwell’s Pepsin Syrup Company. The amount involved is understood to be about $100,000. The business of the Pinus Medicine Company, which Edsall has built into a large concern, will be continued in this city and branches will be established in the East.

I have to believe that the local press was mislead into believing that the company would remain in Los Angeles because less than two months later they had relocated to Monticello, Illinois, the home of the Pepsin Syrup Company. According to the January 1914 issue of the National Drug Clerk:

An announcement of much interest to the drug trade is found in the advertisement of the Pinus Medicine Company in this issue. It will be noted that this business is now located at Monticello Ill., a controlling interest having been acquired by the stockholders of the Pepsin Syrup company.

The initial act of the new management, reducing the trade price from $9.00 to $8.00 per dozen, will undoubtedly appeal to all druggists as is an indication of the broader spirit of cooperation that characterizes their policy.

Our readers are familiar with the liberal advertising policy and spirit of trade cooperation that has made Dr. Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin a staple remedy with a constantly widening field, and with the experience and resources of the new management a largely increased trade in Fruitola, Traxo and Pinus can confidently be expected.

A compelling newspaper advertising campaign, National in its scope, has been inaugurated and will be continued indefinitely, insuring a persistent, constant and permanent call for these preparations. Attractive advertising material will be furnished druggists on request and no effort will be spared to make Fruitola, Traxo and Pinus as staple as is Dr. Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin.

The advertising campaign promised in the above article apparently came to fruition. Between 1914 and 1919, newspaper.com alone identifies over 4000 advertisements in 30+ states. A significant portion of the advertisements involved testimonials from people who used and were subsequently miraculously cured by Fruitola and their digestive tonic named Traxo. Many included photographs and were presented to look more like news stories than advertisements. A woman “saved from the operating table” was highlighted in one example from a 1916 issue of the Potsdam New York Courier & Freeman.

As early as 1910, the American Medical Association was identifying Fruitola’s curative abilities as a total scam. According to an item in the December issue of the A.M.A Journal that year:

Of more recent origin is what may be called the “fake gallstone trick” which is now being industriously worked in many parts of the country. Originally operated by traveling fakers, it has been lately adapted to the exigencies of the “patent medicine” industry. The principle on which the fake depends is the well known fact that in giving the patient massive doses of some bland oil will result in the passing of soapy concretions. These lumps, greenish in color and of varying sizes, are easily mistaken by the laymen for “gallstones.”

There are several modifications of this “gallstone cure” fake but the most widely advertised is that sold by the Pinus Medicine Company, of Los Angeles, under the name “Fruitola.” It is usually exploited in connection with another nostrum – “Traxo” – put out by the same concern.

Fruitola consisted of an eight ounce bottle of oil and six powders. The A.M.A. item went on to describe one woman’s experience with Fruitola.

One of my patients, a young woman, took the contents of this bottle, as well as the powders, which accompany the liquid as part of this treatment. Several hours after taking the medicine there were several painful evacuations, in which there appeared a large number, probably two dozen or more, small greenish masses about the size of an ordinary garden pea. The young woman was very much frightened, thinking that they were really gallstones and that she was in a serious condition.

Of course, the “gallstones” were simply soapy concretions that usually follow the administration of massive doses of oil.

The A.M.A.’s conclusion is actually quite humorous.

That persons should be mulcted of a dollar, however for the privilege of having their bowels moved and being made into a peripatetic soap factory may seem humorous – but it is an outrage nonetheless. To such as wish to make the experiment – and it is one that by no means is free of danger in all cases – we would suggest the following procedure as equally efficacious and much less expensive: Buy 20 cents worth of olive oil and a nickel’s worth of seidlitz powders. You then have all the paraphernalia necessary for the production of home-made gallstones. All that is required is to take the oil and powders and then practice watchful expectancy. The expected will happen.

Possibly as a result of this negative information, the Pinus Medicine Company went through several ownership changes in the late teens and early 1920’s. According to an article on the company in the January 25, 1959 issue of the Decatur Herald & Review, in 1919 it was taken over by Charles Demaree and then sold to William Dighton in 1922. The company remained successful enough to build the Pinus Medicine Company Building at 116-118 East Washington Street in Monticello, where they moved in September 1923. It appears that the building still exists today on the northwest corner of East Washington and North Independence Street.

In 1928 the company was purchased by John Hott, a former vice president of the Pepsin Syrup Company. The November 14, 1928 issue of the Alton Evening Telegraph reported the sale.

After being connected with the Pepsin Syrup Company for nearly quarter of a century in the capacity of second largest stockholder and vice president, John F. Hott, who is nationally known to the drug trade, has resigned his position and purchased the Pinus Medicine Company, who manufacture Fruitola for gallstones and stomach trouble. It is Mr. Hott’s idea to develop and expand the business by adding other well known preparations to the line.

Not surprisingly, around this time the Fruitola advertisements have been toned down quite a bit. Words and phrases like “cures” and “removes gallstones” have been replaced with ambiguous phrases like “recognized treatment for gallstones” and “lubricates and flushes intestinal tract.”

John Hott ran the company until his death in 1933 after which it was taken over by his son Max Hott. The company remained in Monticello and was still active, though barely, in 1959. According to the 1959 Decatur Herald and Review article, it was still owned by Max Hott but was down to two employees. They were still making three proprietary medicines including “Traxo” and “Fruitola”which was being marketed as “Fritola.”

The bottle I found is a 6 to 8 ounce machine made medicine. It’s embossed “Fruitola” on one side and “Pinus Medicine Co., Monticello, Ill., U.S.A.”on the other. It dates no earlier than the company’s 1914 move to Monticello.

Kitchen Bouquet has been available for well over 100 years and it can still be purchased today at among other places, Walmart and Target. A browning and seasoning sauce for soups, sauces, gravies, roasts and stews it was developed by Jules L. Tournade and originally manufactured by the Palisade Manufacturing Co. of West Hoboken New Jersey.

A story printed at the time of his death, in the July 17, 1891 issue of the N.Y.Times briefly mentioned his background and early history.

Mr. Tournade was of French birth, his native town being La Rochelle, France, where he was born in 1836. He came to this country in 1857 in company with his cousin, Jules G Tournade, who is engaged in the importing business at 25 South William Street, with the firm of Gourd & Tournade. Mr. Jules L Tournade was at first in business with his cousin and was a member with him of the firm J & J Tournade. This firm, however, dissolved in 1869, and since then Mr. Jules L. Tournade had been in business in New Jersey. He had been successful in business. He leaves a wife and one son who will probably succeed his father in the business of the company.

J&J Tournade was last listed in the 1868-69 NYC Directory confirming that the company did come to an end around that time. However, it appears that Jules L. Tournade remained in business in New York through much of the 1870’s where he was listed in the NYC directories as either a merchant or importer.

According to an early listing of New Jersey corporations, he started the Palisade Manufacturing Company on July 5, 1881 at 247 Clinton Avenue in West Hoboken. The first listing I can find for the company was in the 1883 Jersey City Directory with an address of Clinton Avenue near Chambers. Jules L Tournade and his son, Emil Tournade were also listed individually at the same address with the occupations of president and salesman respectively.

Jules L Tounade died a sudden and tragic death in July of 1891. According to the July 17th N.Y. Times story:

Jules L. Tournde, proprietor of the Palisade Manufacturing Company, Clinton Avenue, West Hoboken,N.J., was fatally injured on the Paterson Plank Road, opposite Second Street, Hoboken, Wednesday afternoon, and died shortly afterward at his home. Mr Tournade had recently purchased a team of horses and had taken them out in company with Mr. Frank Davis of the Davis West Hoboken Express to accustom the horses to the railroad and elevated trains.

On the way home along the plank road the reins became entangled and the horses began to back. In attempting to get out of the wagon Mr. Tournade slipped and his foot was firmly wedged between the shaft and the axle. The horses continued backing, and forced the wagon near the end of the road. A moment later it went over, followed by the horses, and all struck on the jagged rocks, fifteen feet below. Mr. Davis in the meantime had succeeded in getting out of the wagon, but Mr. Tournade suffered fractures of the ribs and skull. He was taken to his home, but all efforts to save his life were without avail.

His son apparently continued on in the business but for how long is unknown. The 1900 census records listed Emile Tournade’s occupation as “syrup maker” but he’s nowhere to be found in the 1910 or 1920 census records. I guess it’s possible he went back to live with family in France?

In any event, the Palisade Manufacturing Company was still listed at 247-249 Clinton Avenue in the 1918 Industrial Directory of New Jersey. Located near the intersection of Clinton Avenue and Chambers Street, certain advertisements during this period include 18 Chambers Street as their address.

In 1923 they became part of the newly formed Foulds Company. According to a collection entitled the “Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929” assembled by the Library of Congress:

In 1923 the Foulds Company was formed by the consolidation of the following companies: The Foulds Milling Co., Chicago and Libertyville; Warner Macaroni Co., Syracuse N.Y.; Woodcock Macaroni Co., Rochester N.Y.; Palisade Manufacturing Co., manufacturers of Kitchen Bouquet, Hoboken N.J., and just recently the acquisition of the Cone Company of America, making the well-known Havacone ice cream cone, which gives another product closely allied with the macaroni industry.

According to the January, 1924 issue of the Wholesale Grocery Review, a year later the business was still operating under the control of the Foulds Company but was then called Kitchen Bouquet Co.

C S Foulds has succeeded his father, who died recently, as president of the Foulds Co. Mr. Foulds was formerly secretary and sales manger of the Foulds Milling Co.

In 1929 Kitchen Bouquet was acquired by Grocery Store Products, Inc. The August 23, 1929 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported the transaction.

The formation of Grocery Store Products, Inc. which will immediately acquire four operating food companies and is contemplating the acquisition of additional companies, was announced today…The four special food companies, practically all of the stock of which will be held by Grocery Store Products, Inc., are the Toddy Corporation, manufacturer of a chocolate flavored malt food drink; Would Milling Co., a leader in the production of quality macaroni products; Kitchen Bouquet, Inc., manufacturer of liquid flavoring products, and Edward H Jacob, a company which produces the major portion of the canned mushrooms produced in the United States.

Grocery Store Products continued to make Kitchen Bouquet for the next four decades until the Clorox Company acquired the Kitchen Bouquet brand in April 1971. According to their web site, this marked the company’s entrance into specialty food products.

It’s not clear when the Kitchen Bouquet brand first hit the market. A series of advertisements from the early 1900’s say “30 years a favorite.”

This would put the product’s start back in the early 1870’s, but that’s probably a stretch, recognizing that Jules L Tournade was working in New York as an importer/merchant at the time. It was certainly in existence by 1889 because it was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition that year.

I’m guessing it was developed in the early to mid-1880’s after the Palisade Manufacturing Company was formed. Originally listed as a candy manufacturer and confectioner, they would have been familiar with some of the ingredients that ultimately were included in the sauce, such as caramel. Today, the original recipe is one of the oldest items, and the only confidential asset, in the Clorox archive.

The Clorox Company web site shows several of the Kitchen Bouquet containers utilized over the course of their history. The bottle I found is machine made and matches the labeled bottle dated 1919.

It’s embossed Tournades Kitchen Bouquet on the base. The 1919 time period puts it’s manufacture with the Palisade Manufacturing Co. which agrees with the label on the pictured bottle.